5.07.2010

Fusili with Smoked Chorizo

Fusili with Smoked Chorizo -- that's the answer to my previous post.
One of you guessed it right, and I did realize that all your answers
can be correct too just based on the mystery photo alone :-)
So, thanks a bunch to those who joined and tried to guess.

I love Italian cuisine, especially pasta dishes. Be it in tomato sauce, cheesy cream, or aglio e olio (garlic & oil), I'll devour it. When I get inspired, I also try to replicate some unique and flavorful pasta dishes I've tried while dining out. Like this recent dinner with the girlfriends at Cafe 1771 (formerly Chateau
1771 in El Pueblo Real, Ortigas Center, Pasig City), we ordered pasta
chorizo and it was wiped out in minutes. A very simple and savory pasta dish with a Spanish twist, it was really, really good. At that moment, I
thought I should get myself some chorizo and try to do this at home pronto!

This is the first time I used chorizo in my cooking, ever. And now I wondered
why I didn't make this earlier. It is so easy to make. You can say it's an instant
dish if you look at the ingredients and procedure below. Just get the best chorizo you can find.

To prepare:
Boil fusili as instructed in the pack (you may opt for spaghetti, angel hair pasta if you wish)
While pasta is boiling, mince garlic and set aside.
Peel off skin from the chorizo sausage, crumble the meat by hand or with a fork, set aside.

To cook:
In a pan, heat olive oil and sautee garlic until light brown
Mix in chorizo bits and continue to sautee until cooked, or lighty toasted
Add more oil if it's too dry for you, heat through
Sprinkle with cumin, and toss in the grated parmesan
Add cream, if desired, to cut down on the smokey-spicy flavor

Toss in the cooked fusili and serve with more grated cheese.

I prefer fusili for this dish 'coz I like it when the bits of meat get stuck in the grooves of the pasta and it's faster to eat than noodles. As for the chorizo, the brand I used here is Fil Fresh since it was the only one on the chiller section of Unimart supermarket (in Greenhills) at that time. I rarely buy deli products so I honestly don't know which brands carry premium quality and tasty chorizo. Your recommendations are welcome.

I was really aiming for a salty-spicy-sweet finish, which I did not get from this initial "experiment" of mine. I think I needed another variety of melted cheese, or maybe I should have added some brown sugar? Next time. The main appeal of this dish is it's smokey and spicy (mild) flavor brought by the chorizo and garlic, and the zing of lotsa cheese. Still, it was a satisfying dinner for me, matched with a cold glass of Zesto Dalandan Soda ;)